What the hell happened here??! My god. White Pearl is bad; it’s really bad. It’s not just that the acting isn’t great or that the dialogue is too on the nose. Or that this satire set in a racist beauty company in Singapore lacks the pace and believable twists and[…]

Finally seeing FYPM felt like a mission fulfilled. After all, I’d been following FYPM since its early days with its Kickstarter funding push and its enamel pin badges. So, it was with great anticipation I put on my Fuck You Pay Me pretty pink pin on my coat lapel and[…]

There’s no doubt that there are more than a few blockbuster art exhibitions around town at the moment, what with Van Gogh and Don McCullin at Tate B, Edvard Munch at the British Museum, Sorolla at the National Gallery, and Pierre Bonnard at the Tate M. But there are also[…]

It’s sunny out there now, people, so that means evenings are getting lighter and (eventually) a bit warmer! Does that mean we are more inclined to go to the theatre in the evenings? Well, I hope so as it’s been another battle to whittle my favourite shows this month down[…]

Of the big art exhibitions currently on display in London, this has to be my favourite. Why? Well, not only is Dorothea’s Surrealist artwork some of the most vibrant and emotionally intense of that genre, but this is also an exhibition that goes on to chart Dorothea’s artistic development through[…]

Only Human: Martin Parr may well be the closest we come to a contemporary portrait of a nation. Which of course means it is impossible to talk about this cracking exhibition without mentioning Brexit. And I can only apologise for that as, frankly, just the thought of yet more of[…]

Given that I may well be the last person to see Downstate, chances are you all know a lot about this production. You’ll know that it is set in a group home for registered sex offenders for crimes against minors in Illinois. You’ll also probably know that it is set[…]

I think I’m beginning to lose my thread on this monthly list, in particular. It started off, and I think was always meant to be, my top ten art shows in London that month. Only it now seems to have morphed into the ‘ten best shows opening this month’ kind[…]

Happy Welcome-to-Spring! With any luck, the darker days of winter are behind us now and we can get ready for lighter evenings and warmer days. And if that sounds a little bit optimistic, well, it’s probably because there’s a lot of things to look forward to in this month’s run[…]

I’m never 100% sure the RA has got its programming in the smaller Sackler Galleries spot on. The restricted exhibition space lends itself more to intimate, focused examinations rather than massive themes. Like the recent show on the drawings of Klimt and Schiele, for example. That worked well. As did[…]

Chances are you haven’t heard of Joaquin Sorolla – or maybe that’s mean. Maybe you have heard of him so let’s start with clear facts… I hadn’t heard of Joaquin Sorolla. Certainly not prior to the announcement by the National Gallery that their Spring exhibition would be a retrospective dedicated[…]

I think it’s fair to say that when you get a ticket to go see a show created, hosted and performed by Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat, you know you are going to be in safe hands. And with A Night at the Musicals, you really are. There’s no[…]

The cast took their bows at the end of the show before heading for the wings, the lights came up in the auditorium and I was just sat there wowed, overwhelmed, and excited about what I had just seen. I was at the Royal Court alone but what I would[…]

So, yes, I’ve cribbed a Janelle Monae lyric for the title of this review but not only is it the perfect description for this autobiographical piece on sexual assault, it also emphasises the extent to which this blend of theatre and performance art hits both the head and the heart.[…]

It’s only March and there are already some of the year’s biggies in the last-chance saloon. The fantastic Viola Michelangelo exhibition at the RA closes at the end of the month so please don’t miss that if you want to witness a mightily affecting exhibition on life, death and rebirth.[…]

This list was one of those nightmare ones, it really was. So much so that, if you count closely, you’ll find there’s more than ten shows in the list. But each of them is a gem, from revivals to new writing, from adaptations to the most fabulous burlesque and cabaret.[…]

Well, these shows are fantastic. And surprising. I came for the photography of Diane Arbus yet left inspired and fascinated by the mind of Kader Attia. It’s hard to see the connections between these two artists and these two displays – perhaps it is simply two for the price of[…]

Pierre Bonnard is not a name as instantly recognisable as that of his French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist peer group, (hello Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, and Degas) but he certainly trod a similar path to them. After all, his first show was at Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery – the French art dealer often[…]

This show is magnificent, it really is. It takes the video works of contemporary artist Bill Viola – an artist I have a deep regard for – and considers his examination of, well, life death and rebirth through the prism of Michelangelo’s drawings – that demigod of the Renaissance –[…]

Art, art, art… What is life without it, eh? I certainly don’t know where I’d be without the refuge it gives me. And it’s a terrific array of artists, genres and themes that greets us this month and they all promise to give us much to think about. We’ve big[…]

London’s theatreland is really going through the gears now… The new seasons are well underway and so there is a host of fantastic new shows all over the place. So much so that I didn’t have space to squeeze in four worthy mentions… Two sold out shows are back by[…]

Welcome to my first list for art exhibitions in London in 2019. For those who’ve been with me for a while, welcome back! For 2019 newbies, these are my monthly roundups of those shows in town that mixes my faves that are open with some new ones opening in the[…]

New year, new you – right? Well, if one of your resolutions is to get out and about a bit more in London town, catch a few shows etc, than I’m here to help as my top tens are, as we all know, fabulous. I try and blend the classics[…]

I don’t know why I thought this would be a big exhibition; I had imagined this display of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) paintings would fill many of the NPG’s ground floor galleries. After all, this is a very familiar name indeed. Yet actually this is a small and intimate show –[…]

One day I hope historical plays and musicals that examine racism and division won’t be resonant, but I have little faith that will ever come to pass. Certainly not today, and certainly not in the case of Caroline, Or Change, which packs a powerful relevant punch despite the fact that[…]

This isn’t an exhibition in the main galleries at the RA – we are upstairs in the smaller Sackler Wing for this one – and the title ‘Klimt/Schiele: Drawings’ may well be trying to manage expectations by defining the small area of focus, but don’t let either of these factors[…]

In London theatreland, 2018 has come very close to feeling as it if has commodified female rage. It’s been a dream to see so many women/womxn creatives let loose to shatter notions of gender and gendered behaviour, but you can’t help but think, yeah, I’ll come back in a couple[…]

The Turner Prize is always one to stir up a hornet’s nest, but these are my four big takeaways from this year’s show of the shortlisted artists at Tate Britain 1. Each of the nominees had film-centric work – one of the hardest mediums in contemporary art. So easy for[…]

There’s a couple of things that immediately hit you about the Edward Burne Jones retrospective at Tate Britain: first, there are a lot of paintings on display here. An impressive haul. And second, the man had a signature style, and boy, did he stick with it. Whichever way you look[…]

What is life without art, eh? And there is so much out there to see, even in this season, with a smattering of cracking new smaller shows making themselves known amongst a sea of blockbusters that are closing soon. I would say, try to make room to see these in[…]

Right, panto season, I know. But don’t think that means there is nothing else to see at theatres this month because there is PLENTY on around London. Moreover, not only is the list below utterly delicious, but it contains both some of the biggest shows this year on West-End transfers,[…]

Hadestown has got me all betwixt and between. On one hand, I can see that it has some wonderful elements and ideas – a bluesy jazz musical that anchors a tale as old as time into our near-dystopian future. I love that. But, on the other, the resulting production is[…]

There are some big names included in Shape Shifters, the latest exhibition at the Hayward Gallery that considers how some contemporary artists have challenged and distorted our perceptions of the space around us. Yayoi Kusama is a big draw, obviously – especially as many struggled to get tickets to see[…]

If you do know Sink the Pink – the LGBTQ+ cabaret collective who have taken the fringes by storm – chances are you already have tickets to this, and lucky you too for How to Catch a Krampus is a bawdy blend of riotous and irreverent cabaret, satirical Christmas cheer[…]

Such is the majesty in debbie tucker green’s ear for eye that I have struggled to capture it in words. I’ve seen review after review come out since I saw this play over a week ago, aware that any relevance for my opinion is diminishing by the day, but I[…]

It may seem a tad confusing to describe a piece of gig theatre that pounds with rock beats as touching and affecting but that duality is exactly what intrigued and delighted me about this production from Middle Child and, in particular, playwright Luke Barnes and musician James Frewer. In it,[…]

Can I just caveat the following with mentioning that I really don’t like doing this? I really don’t like being the writer of negative reviews. I don’t know if over the years I’ve built up a reputation as a force of unconstructive criticism – no doubt somewhat linked to my[…]

Now, a lot of the big shows this Autumn are already open: Oceania at the RA is glorious, as is the Anni Albers retrospective at the Tate Modern. Tickets are already thin on the ground for Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro and the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the V&A so[…]

It’s that time again! Yup, November next week so let’s have a run-down of my favourite shows opening this month. Obviously, we also have White Teeth at Kiln, the return of The Inheritance to the West End, Misty has also extended its run a little longer at Trafalgar, and Company[…]

It seems the myth of the lone male genius-artist is a hard one to kill, even to me. Only earlier this year I was wandering the halls of the Tate’s Picasso 1932 exhibition marvelling at the man’s sustained brilliance across so many artworks. It’s hard wired into us, isn’t it?[…]

Is COMPANY a glorious and brilliantly executed musical? Yes, absolutely. Is the gender swap idea a resounding success? Unequivocally. Is Bunny Christie’s design as inventive as the cast is talented? For sure. Is this also a blindingly white production that demonstrates the continued tokenism towards BAME actors and creatives? Yes,[…]

I love art. There is so much to discover in its rich history, particularly in the works of overlooked women. I cannot claim to be familiar with the careers of every women artist out there (one day, everyone!) but until then, there is little that gives me more pleasure than[…]

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine… We’re in October so as far as I’m concerned that is the signal to kick off my favourite time of year and, as a self-appointed member of Santa’s little helpers, I’m here to help those of you searching for gifts for the art lovers in[…]

I have been watching Bryony’s shows for years; it was often her work – their intoxicating blend of autobiography and performance art – that kept my passion for theatre burning during some dry periods. But I have often wondered what pressure Bryony Kimmings works under to be ‘Bryony Kimmings.’ What[…]

It is an interesting experience to visit a show so long after it has established itself as a ground-breaking hit, especially one that has been talked about as much as Misty. I missed it at the Bush and thought I was catching it at the tail end of its transfer[…]

At the end of the year, when we think back on our favourite art shows and we weigh up offerings from the Tate Modern, I’ve no doubt many will be talking about the blockbuster Picasso exhibition or seeing all of Modigliani’s nudes together. I wonder how many, if any, will[…]

One of the interesting things you wrestle with as a critic is how much attention and weight you should give to the creatives of a show. What I mean is, if the creatives are box office names, are we obliged to give them greater latitude/spend more time weighing up what[…]

Ooh, I have a lot of love for Debris Stevenson, I really do. This is an incendiary piece of work that has it in it to cause reverberations across theatre. It will be touted as another challenge to the white male canon – which it is – and a pitch[…]

I am excited about this season’s art shows in London. The year has been largely dominated by blockbuster exhibitions and big names so it’s nice for me to shine some light on names that are less well-known but worth discovering. Not that Yayoi Kusama and Sean Scully fall into that[…]

My goodness, is there a lot of good stuff on the stage this month or what! Each of the ten productions listed below sounds like a blinder. I don’t know how my bank balance will afford it – some difficult choice to be made! But, as always, I do hope[…]

So, the beautiful Courtauld Gallery has now closed its doors for a few years for a major refurbishment. But what to do with its unrivalled collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces? No doubt many will be sent on loan the world over but what a fantastic opportunity this exhibition was[…]

One of the many extraordinary exhibits I found myself longing over in this spectacular show was a solid two-foot high image of a god from the Hawaiian Islands. The piece is over 200 years old, but it is in remarkable condition – especially when you appreciate the solid figure is[…]

You have to feel for SYLVIA. It has had such a cursed development, what with cast illnesses, delayed press views and evenings when much of the presentation was abandoned altogether. It was only marginally better the night I went – a broken sound deck forced the show to be suspended[…]

I say this with kindness but there is nothing enjoyable about The Human Voice at Gate Theatre. This is an unflinching, relentless monodrama of one woman’s final call to her former lover who is moving on with their life without her. There is no spark of joy or uplifting moment[…]

Reading the precis of Jo Clifford’s Losing Venice, which she wrote back in the mid-80s, you can see what caught the Orange Tree’s attention: a fading empire propped up by leaders intoxicated on vanity and masculinity, each bristling with ambition, as they dine out on illusions of faded glory and[…]

Press Night for Holy Sh!t came the Monday after the US Open finals weekend where headlines were dominated not by Novak’s resurgence or Naomi Osaka’s debut win but by the row between Serena Williams and umpire Carlos Ramos. The fallout from that was notably ugly with more than tinges of[…]

I loved Dance Nation, I absolutely loved it. It is radical stuff, both in content and in form. For, here, we follow a group of teenage girls (all played by adult women) in an American dance troupe who wrestle with the onset of puberty and the changes it brings to[…]

So, here we are again. My annual review of the number of female playwrights platformed at London’s leading theatres in 2018. Now, just like last year, this can be published now as theatres have announced their programmes for the rest of the year. And, just like my 2017 review, the[…]

I tell you, between this month and next, we’ve a flood of new art shows and exhibitions for you, and there are some crackers coming up too. But what I’m most pleased about is that, after an expensive roster of shows this spring/summer, the exhibitions I’m most thrilled about over[…]

After the relative lull of August, the London theatre scene is coming back hard this month as a wave of new shows take over the stages at pretty much every theatre going. And what an exciting, diverse wave of works await us this. There really is something for everyone, including[…]

I’m not sure what benefit there would be in another orthodox review of Emilia, the new play from Morgan Lloyd Malcolm commissioned specifically for The Globe. After all, we are at a late stage in its run, there are plenty of other reviews out there to read, and given there[…]

Does anyone else struggle with trusting the word of critics? I realise that this somewhat of a provocative statement, and one that is most definitely ironic given that I am, in fact, a reviewer but I say that because, for about the nth time, I’ve had to endure a production[…]

I admit I had my reservations about this exhibition. An art show based around the King of Pop?? I feared the worst. I feared the kind of wall to wall narcissistic god complex paintings that had dominated MJ’s famous Neverland ranch – MJ at The Last Supper, MJ as the[…]

First of all, DRAG at the Hayward Gallery offers up a fascinating insight into identity, self-expression and body politics, bringing together a collection of work from artists, both alive and dead, both British and from overseas, who used drag and drag references in their work to consider and challenge gendered[…]

It’s quite something for a joint show on two artists I admire hugely to live up to my own (very high!) expectations. I guess that makes Life in Motion a hugely impressive exhibition. And it is. Yet I also found the collection of works from these two artists so well[…]

So, there are no new exhibitions opening in August in London (so shape up for a WAVE of new openings in September!!) but there are plenty closing so if you’ve missed out on some of the biggies this year, prepare to get your skates on to catch them before they[…]

It may be August but that doesn’t stop the flow of new shows around London town this month. There’s plenty to see, as ever, and lots of big names headlining shows in the West End – McKellen in Lear, Aidan Turner in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Simon Russell Beale in[…]

It’s hard to know where to begin with The Lehman Trilogy, if I’m honest. There’s so many places I could start, not least with the fact that it makes no difference what I write anyway as each performance in the run was sold out even before the first show opened.[…]

It is impossible not to be blown away by the exhilarating brilliance and complete lunacy of this new play from writer Rory Mullarkey. This absurdist comedy dramatises the collapse of the world order in a single day through the eyes of a very ordinary couple (Sophia Di Martino and Abraham[…]

It takes quite a play to bring tears to my eyes but, then, The Play About My Dad is quite a piece of writing. Any play set around the true stories of those who experienced Hurricane Katrina, and those who died, would obviously pull on the heart strings, but this[…]

Here we are, back again with my monthly round-up on books I’ve read, those I’ve loved, and my highlights of some of those being published this month. I’ll be honest, it’s been a ridiculously hectic month – I am doing way WAY too much atm – so I haven’t been[…]

There are some big shows opening this month as the galleries make sure they’re all ready for tourist-season – but there are also some big names closing too as the galleries start to shape up for the Autumn/Winter season already so, if you want to get to see the likes[…]

We all have blank spots in our theatre experiences. We’ve all got legendary shows we’ve missed or iconic performances we never got around to seeing. And I’m no different. Jerusalem and Enron, War Horse and the second half of Wicked! (I left at the interval as I was so bored)…[…]

I just want you to know that I really do sweat over these lists, I really do. Like, I wonder whether to emphasise more those which actually are the best shows in town, but I also want to showcase new names and shows that are about to open, which we[…]

It’s hard to put into words the impact Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes from the Field at the Royal Court has on you. This is a one-woman show that draws upon over 250 interviews and speeches to present a powerful piece of verbatim theatre that examines the link between racism, a broken education system, and[…]

I suppose it’s not the best of starts for a review when I disagree with the playwright about what their actual play was about but then, hey, given the wave of plaudits that has greeted this production of Brian Friel’s masterpiece, Translations, which is running at the National, I feel[…]

The simple truth is, I am the wrong person to be reviewing An Octoroon. Not only would I be amazed if most of the theatrical world didn’t know my opinion on it already – I adored it last year, eulogised about it almost daily, and named it my best show[…]

There was a recent thread on Twitter – apologies, I can’t remember the origin or accounts involved – but it talked about how bloggers are often hampered in assessing the broader impact of plays, and the landscape they are working in, as unlike paid critics, there isn’t the time, capacity[…]

If you’ve managed to miss all the preamble and palpable excitement surrounding the opening of Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up at the V&A, let me break it down for you: this exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts and clothing belonging to the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.[…]

Another month, another cracking list of books I’ve read, new books being published that I’ve got my eye on and, as ever, a classic I’m all going to make you read even if it’s the last thing I do. OK, let’s get started… What I’ve Read My god. MY. GOD.[…]

Sigh. Ok, this is going to hurt because I’m such a supporter of women creatives and want to fight for more opportunities for them but, Christ alive, Julie is awful. I mean, when a show is interminably dull, that’s one problem; when it’s problematic, that’s quite another. But when a[…]

It’s hard to overstate the risk that has been taken in Emily Schwend’s award-winning play Utility, which has its European premiere at the Orange Tree. In a world of slow-burning dramas, this has to be one of the slowest. Add to that, there’s no big event, no whopping dramatic arc,[…]

Let’s hear it again for the welcome return of the Hayward Gallery who have followed their Andreas Gursky exhibition up with this exhilarating survey on the work of pioneering Korean artist, Lee Bul. I’ve a lot of love for Lee – her works are dynamic, and her shows always such[…]

And so here we are – another month, another list of cracking art exhibitions to see around London town. And the galleries are really going to town to attract the audiences in with big name blockbusters at the Tate (Picasso, All Too Human), the British Museum (Rodin) and the National[…]

I really am incredibly excited about this month’s line up. And it was one of those months where it was a real battle to whittle the contenders down to my ten favourites. There are so many fantastic shows out there this month to see, and across the board too in[…]

So, for those of you who don’t subscribe to my monthly tinyletter or my YouTube channel, I complete a summary of books each month that I’ve read, those I’ve loved, and my highlights of some of those being published. I’m spreading the love of books so you can expect to[…]

Any publisher that markets a new book as “the next Wild Swans” (or indeed “the next [insert title of any great book here]”) always runs a gauntlet. Sure, you’re grabbing that established audience and immediately conveying the subject and tone of the book but, oh, you’re playing with fire. That’s[…]

It occurred to me, as the lights came up at the end of Effigies of Wickedness, that I rarely take a moment to breathe at the end of a show – it’s usually straight to my feet, pick the bag up off the floor and head as quickly as I[…]

I don’t think my week could have got off to a better start than watching Rachael Young’s Nightclubbing, an electric fusion of theatre and performance art that explores race and racism in clubbing by comparing and contrasting the rise of Grace Jones in the 1970s New York scene with an[…]

It’s been a few days since I saw The Writer, over a week in fact. It’s taken me that long to process all my thoughts and, much like the play itself, my feelings about it still feel fragmented and unorganised. But that won’t make for a great review so let’s[…]

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy… Are there issues with this revival of Chess or what? In fact, there’s so many it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s start with the positives. I love Chess; no, seriously. It’s the show that made me fall in love with musicals after a childhood[…]

It’s interesting that this new exhibition – the largest ever held of abstract photography in the UK – is being held in the galleries opposite the blockbuster Picasso show for you couldn’t get more diametrically opposed shows in modern art. Picasso’s works are an instant hit. Though there are complexities[…]

Theatre that nourishes you is the most wonderful feeling, and that’s how I felt after seeing Nine Night, a warm homely play that examines the fractures in a family placed under the severest of pressures by the death of the matriarch that’s been holding them all together. You see, Gloria[…]

As ever, I’ve a cracking top ten for you this month, even if I do say so myself. A couple of these have been on previous lists but I’m so keen you see them that I’ve added them again here. JUST TO MAKE SURE! Plus, there’s a few that I[…]

Now, a musical adaptation of a famous, nay iconic, film comes with a very high degree of risk, even if that film was, itself, an adaptation of a stage play. Add to that the cultural impact of Strictly Come Dancing, which was built on the viral success of Baz Luhrmann’s[…]

The sun is out and things are looking up in the world of London theatre as we have a cracking and wonderfully diverse line up of shows for you including blockbuster musicals, Afrofuturism, righteous feminism, impeached Presidents, bohemian revolution, remixed Chekhov and Jamaican wakes. I’m loving the line-up for May[…]

I am a huge fan of Rodin’s work. Whenever and wherever I see it, I can only but marvel at the smoothness of the skin he was able to fashion out of marble, and marvel at the detail he was able to carve into the stone. But, most of all,[…]

The Prudes is one of those tricky shows where women in the audience, in particular, are required to overlook a few awkward moments, uneasy representations, and a few missteps from male creatives, in order to fully enjoy what is, genuinely, a laugh-out-loud comedy. And it’s interesting what this forces upon[…]

Now, on one hand, I’m a bit concerned for the team at the Orange Tree. This is their third play examining grief in the past six months. I hope they’re all OK. Yet, on the other hand, I am left, once again, marvelling at the vision and quality control of[…]

Taking on a famous and much-loved book and adapting it for the stage can always be a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes, there’s always that element of security that comes from knowing there’s going to be an audience, but contrast that with the risk that the show will not[…]

I have a love for shows with shiny, sparkly packaging that, underneath this tinsel, have a web of big issues and questions. Instructions for Correct Assembly is just that type of play. We’re set in a brightly coloured near-future where all lines are clean and perfect, and our homes are[…]

It brings me much joy that we currently seem to be in a phase where women artists are being celebrated, and where women-specific and women-centric exhibitions are popular – both in terms of galleries putting them on and visitors attending them. This makes me happy., Yet in a field that[…]

The first adjective that springs to mind when I think of Monet’s works is ‘beautiful’. In fact, it is such an easy association that I often struggle to define his works any other way – waterlilies? Beautiful; bridge at Giverny? Beautiful; blossom on trees? Beautiful. I mean, such is Monet’s[…]

Now, you may know that the Tate in St. Ives has recently reopened following a whopping four-year refurbishment project that has seen the gallery double its floor space for displays, as well as adding more facilities for learning. As a result, Tate St Ives is now able to give a[…]

There’s so much to see out there right now that it feels a little bit overwhelming. And expensive too. I’ve spoken about my concern on rising admission prices to major art exhibitions before and it seems that those fears are not exaggerated with them now seen as a factor behind[…]

Spring is here (finally) and with any luck we’ve seen the last of the snow so time to think about venturing out in our evenings, such as going to see some cracking theatre. And we’ve got musicals as well as plays, and comedy as well as drama. And international politics[…]

One may as well begin with a Barry Manilow quote. Back in 2006, the great man was on The X Factor and he was asked, what is the secret to a great song, and he replied that you’ve got to coax the audience to put their hearts into your hands.[…]

“How long do we have to be here to be English?” Black Men Walking is a wonder, not just a desperately needed and relevant play on the British Black experience, but an inventive one too, one that mixes rap with prose, and the present with the past. This is an[…]

It seems such a surprise that such an extraordinary exhibition of American modern art – as this is – should be hosted at a Museum more familiar with pre-Renaissance European art and archaeology, yet it is because its collection of such older works is so impressive that this remarkable show[…]

I had been very much looking forward to this exhibition, and it didn’t disappoint. For, here, The Photographers’ Gallery has gathered together a rare selection of found, largely anonymous, photographs of men and women posing for the camera, using the apparel and gestures traditionally assigned to the ‘opposite sex’. With[…]

It was as I was watching the excellent Br’er Cotton at Theatre 503 that this hit me – why are so many plays on the Black experience US imports? It seems unfair to burden this wonderful play examining Black masculinity as if it is a criticism of that specific production[…]

In the 1980s, a curious phenomenon was identified in coastal towns in Japan. People were going missing; ordinary people who were going out for walks on the beaches and cliffs were disappearing, vanishing into thin air, without any sign of a struggle, suicide or washed-up body. It turned out that[…]

Ruffrino (Michael Ajao) is angry. He’s a 14-year old American Black boy coming of age in a world where his TV screens are either filled with the shooting of Black men and women on the streets of America, or filled with the shooting of anonymous characters in computer games that[…]

So, look, this is an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while, and a subject that has come up in the odd conversation with those (few) friends I have in the industry – we need a networking group for women working in British theatre. And we need it for[…]

It’s been one week since I saw Summer and Smoke and I’m still struggling to find the words. Not because I remain unsure of my reaction to it – far from it; this production is an extraordinary, soaring study of the fragility and strength of a woman’s spirit – rather[…]

There is so much about Buggy Baby that is horrifying, from the agonising refugee trail that Nur (Hoda Bentaher) and Jayden (Noof McEwan) endured just to get to London, through the terrible visions and nightmares that chewing leaves brings them, and on to the domestic abuse that casts a long[…]

Families are a nightmare. Bound by blood and collective memory, but divided by historical grudges, simmering resentments and personality clashes. How on earth can we successfully navigate our families??! It’s chaos out there, and no sooner has one argument been sorted out then another surprise springs out from leftfield. If[…]

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, mostly as a response to my article on female playwrights and London theatres but, as with many things in life, I’ve been putting it off and pushing it further down my ever-lengthening to-do list. However, the past week, with the responses[…]

So, I’m sorry to say that the starry Olivier-platformed NT production of Macbeth is a dull disappointment. For me, I couldn’t find a single element that worked. So, rather than wade through a heavy article, you know the play, I know the play, so let’s get down to business… 1.[…]

By January 1932, Picasso’s fame was already well-established, but he was also an artist at a crossroads. 1931 had seen the great man turn fifty, but it had also seen increasing whispers about whether he was more an artist of the past rather than one to set the standard for[…]

Dust is currently on a sold-out run at Soho Theatre, a hugely impressive one-woman show where we follow the ghost of a woman who has just committed suicide as she witnesses the grief and trauma she has caused on friends and family she left behind. It sounds like a tragedy[…]

You take one hundred wonderful artworks from a selection of great artists and it’s surely impossible to have anything than a fantastic show. And that is exactly what has been achieved in All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life, which fulfils all the hopes and expectations[…]

Currently on display in Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery is a joint show from artists Rachel Howard and John Copeland. What links these two is unclear; in fact, so incongruous is the mix that it jars. And the over-arching result is that of a mixed bag, with the different emotional[…]

The full title of this new show at the National Portrait Gallery is, Victorian Giants: The Birth of Art Photography and given that’s this exhibition’s objective – to examine how four key photographers harnessed new developments in technology to bridge the art of the past with the art of the[…]

This new photography exhibition at the Barbican is an exercise in trying to see the wood for the trees, for its content is superb – a wonderful array of images from twenty artists who have explored communities seemingly at odds with, or on the fringes of, the mainstream. However, its[…]

I’ve been promising this piece for ages – to myself, more than anyone else – but the spectacular convergence of the revival of the great Amadeus at the National Theatre, with the resurgence in Ronnie’s success on the baize brought this back into focus for me. I believe completely that[…]

As she was taking her bows at the end of this powerful and, at times, deeply traumatic play, Milly Thomas – who both wrote and performs in this one-woman show – asked for a break in the applause so that she could say a few unscripted words. She hoped that[…]

Spring really is going to be big on the London art scene with blockbusters at all the major galleries and some fantastic shows both in the smaller independent galleries, as well as outside of London too. I really am very excited as there’s great diversity too in terms of genres[…]

I’d hate for you to ever think these lists come easy to me. They really don’t; I sweat over the selection for days. Ridiculous, really. But there’s this terrible balance between keeping the list short enough to hold attention, but making sure great shows get shared. Hence why I’ve been[…]

Now, straight off the bat, this isn’t a dig at Rufus. No, that’s not what this blog is about. Rather, it’s some comparably small suggestions that I think could bring about real meaningful change both at the NT and at other producing theatres. Whether the institutional barriers at the NT[…]

It’s not even the end of February but I’m pretty sure Girls & Boys, the latest play from Dennis Kelly, will be making an appearance in many Top Plays lists at the end of the year, including my own. It is absolutely superb, a pitch perfect play that follows a[…]

Ever since I started writing about the lack of diversity in commissioned playwrights at London theatres, I’ve regularly been asked to provide comment or sit on panels about the issue. Often, these start the same way, with the review of (usually, my) data followed by questions and discussion around ‘what[…]

Paines Plough have taken up residency at the Orange Tree Theatre this month, with three plays running in rep until; March 3rd. Now, I haven’t seen Sarah McDonald Hughes’s How to be a Kid, which is one of the shows, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for reviews of that[…]

There is nothing about Gundog that will make you feel good about where we are today. It is a dark and disturbing tale about the state of play in rural Britain. That means it won’t be for everyone, but I was mesmerised, seduced by the intensity of the its darkness,[…]

Look, I appreciate it’s never rainbows and sunshine in Hedda Gabler but, even by Ibsen’s standards, this National Theatre production is intense and deeply morose. I didn’t catch this adaptation from Patrick Marber when it ran at the Lyttleton last year. I know it was the cause of much discussion[…]

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties was as funny, uplifting and as life-reaffirming as I’d hoped – a glorious blend of cabaret, drag and theatre that, alone, would have made for a great night out. But there’s also something meaningful and important in its examination of the anger of[…]

T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land is one of the most celebrated poems of the twentieth century and this fantastic new show at Turner Contemporary brings together a wondrous collection of works that explores the poem and its influence on visual arts over the past century. In what must have[…]

There was a point in my life, a couple of years ago, where I thought I’d never witness this mighty Peter Schaffer play on the stage. I feared Paul Scofield’s performance cast too long a shadow, that maybe the film had drained away any desire to revisit the work. Then[…]

We all made it through January – well done! And we are rewarded with new shows almost everywhere as both February and March see pretty much all of the remaining art exhibitions from last year swept away to be replaced with bold, new and exciting ones. So, it’s last-chance saloon[…]

Well, we’re truly into 2018 now and there’s plenty to see. In January I was wowed with the big openings at the National Theatre – the welcome return of Amadeus, which was a complete sell-out last year, and the latest from Annie Baker who has brought us the strange and[…]

There but for the grace of God… What role chance and luck play in our fates. It seems all we have and all we are can be decided at the toss of a coin. And that is the literal truth in this production that, famously, allocates the two principal roles[…]

Come to Dust is Glenn Brown’s first major exhibition in London since 2009. And it is most certainly welcome as I was pleasantly surprised with it – unexpected and beautiful, the artist deconstructing and reimagining classic images to create complex, sensuous new works. The impact is quite affecting and it’s[…]

About midway through this magical and mysterious new play from Annie Baker, one of the characters, Genevieve, is talking to her sister, Mertis, and a guest at Mertis’s B&B, Jenny, about her nervous breakdown. For Genevieve, she started seeing hearing her ex-husband’s voice and sensing his malevolent influence in family,[…]

So ambitious sounded this exhibition that when the RA first announced it, I feared the aim would be unobtainable and that the result would be a let-down. Well. I needn’t have feared for this show is stunning. A remarkable feat with galleries full of remarkable art. Over 140 works on[…]

Oh my. My, my, my… Beginning is absolutely beautiful. This is a wonderful play, magnificent. So thank god this David Eldridge-penned tale of the first few hours of a new relationship found a transfer from the National Theatre as it would have been such a shame if many, like me,[…]

Peggy Guggenheim was a one-off. An extraordinary woman whose lust for life was only matched by her passion for art. A rare example of a woman who was a pivotal figure in the 20th century art scene, Peggy used her wealth to sponsor struggling artists in interwar Paris and elsewhere after[…]

No Grey Area. That’s what our message is in contemporary society. That there is no grey area around consent, harassment and abuse. Hell, we’ve even hash-tagged it. Then this revival of Andrea Dunbar’s seminal play comes along, holding up a mirror to her own experiences, telling us that, actually, there[…]

This true story of a daughter who loses her mum to a cult is, in its essence, terribly traumatic. For a young girl of only ten to find herself increasingly pushed aside and, eventually, abandoned as the one who is responsible for her care is drawn deeper and deeper into[…]

There is much to enjoy in this close quarters examination of one short-lived relationship from the highs of its beginning, to the regrets and recriminations that marks its end. There is much that is specific in this two-hander, but, of course, there is much that is familiar and universal. J[…]

Happy New Year (almost)! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and managed to successfully eat your own weight in mince pies and bubble and squeak. There are few achievements more impressive than that. And no doubt you have filled your eyes to the brim with the festive TV schedules[…]

Hypatia Tarleton (Marli Siu) is a young woman in demand. She’s beautiful and intelligent, spirited and a little fiery. And her father is also filthy rich. Part of the nouveau riche, if you will. For this is Edwardian England and her old man, Mr Tarleton (Pip Donaghy) has made his[…]

So, how was your Christmas then? Was there a chocolate orange, piece of turkey, or slice of Christmas pud that didn’t get eaten? Wonderful. That’s a proper Christmas, right there. But, if you’re like me, your thoughts will already be turning to 2018 and all those good intentions you’re going[…]

Ah, the ever-controversial ‘best of’ lists… Don’t you just love them? Reminders of shows you’re (still) kicking yourself that you missed coupled with utter bemusement at the ones who made the cut. So, I thought, I know, I’ll stride into the crossfire and light myself up with my list of[…]

Do you know, I’ve been back and forth with this list? I’d say the top half were pretty much rock-solid shoe-ins. The rest? Well, I’ve been agonising over who gets left out for days. There are some big guns that haven’t made an appearance – I enjoyed the Giacometti, Modigliani,[…]

The Serpentine has filled its Sackler Gallery with as many of Rose’s glorious canvases as it can. Its walls brim with colours and a fantastic array of images clipped from books, TV and films, as well as shards of Rose’s memories over her previous eighty-four years. And the result is[…]

If you’re looking for a review comparing and contrasting the West End opening of this phenomenon with the Broadway hit, then perhaps you should look elsewhere. For I am no Hamilton aficionado. I knew remarkably little about the show before I sat down in my seat in the Grand Circle.[…]

I’m increasingly of the opinion that, when it comes to Christmas movies, you’re either in the Elf and Love Actually camp, or you’re all for the likes of Bad Santa and Gremlins. If you’re all in for the latter and like you Christmas spirits dark then, well, Grimly Handsome could[…]

Hello everybody, how are you all doing? Now, I know you are all faithfully devoted to my monthly round-ups of art shows to see around the capital each month – and, indeed, why wouldn’t you be? But a couple of you have asked for a bit of a heads-up as[…]

I know I’m late to the party with Follies but what can I do? Such was the demand for tickets that I only finally saw it a few days ago. But, my god, was it worth the wait, or what. Of course, I was swept up with Sondheim’s legendary score[…]

It is a rare occurrence indeed to see an audience as happy, as involved, and as diverse as the one that sat with me to watch Barber Shop Chronicles at the NT. What a glorious show. Such dynamism, energy, and an array of fantastic performances. But as much as the[…]

How best to put this? The RA is ending the year on a disappointing note for me for as From Life – this small exhibition in the Sackler Wing that supposedly examines what making art from life has meant to artists throughout history, and how this practice is evolving with[…]

So here we are – my last top ten art shows to see in London before Christmas. I hope you’ve enjoyed these lists this year and that you’ve found them useful! I really do take a lot of pleasure in pulling these together (I hope it shows!) as London art[…]

Well, I guess I need to start with, Merry Christmas! Too early? Well, these will be my last arts and culture round-ups before Christmas so when else will I have the opportunity to thank you, and to say that I hope you have found these monthly listicles interesting and of[…]

In only a short life, Modigliani established himself as a ground-breaking artist who pushed the boundaries of the art of his time. Though he was only thirty-five when he died, he had already developed a distinctive visual style, one that is so easily recognisable today in his portraits: the clean[…]

Somerset House is a pretty big draw around this time of year, what with its ice-rink and huge Christmas tree in the Courtyard, so, if you’re heading this way anyway, make time to see this excellent exhibition exploring contemporary artistic and stylistic representations of the north of England. With a[…]

Well, this was unexpected… Double Kiss by snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan may well be one of the best commercial crime novels I’ve read this year! It is original, page turning with well developed characters and a good sense of setting, and is also written with more nuance than you might[…]

I’ve been having a nightmare taking any decent selfies on this holiday. They are a necessity for us solo travellers as, well, we all would like at least one snapshot of us against a nice backdrop for posterity otherwise were we even here? And endless cityscape photography gets boring. But[…]

It’s always an easy shot to take at Vegas, to dismiss it as shallow. It’s never really had a reputation as a cultural centre, and I didn’t come here expecting to be overwhelmed with art. And even I, desperately trying to keep my cynicism at bay, raised my eyebrows at[…]

Prior to coming here, I’d started following a few of the vintage Las Vegas Instagram accounts. Nostalgic images of the glitz and the glamour of Dean Martin and Sinatra, old model Buicks parked up outside huge neon signs shimmering against the dark Vegas skies, and the showgirls. The glorious showgirls[…]

So, I’m quickly learning that Americans don’t queue for anything, except for breakfast and Starbucks. It’s not even nine in the morning and I’m pretty much the only person on the monorail, heading to MGM Grand. Not that this particular hotel is a haven of quality eateries – I’m after[…]

OK, let’s start with the basics: Everything in Las Vegas is oriented around The Strip – the six-lane highway that cuts right through the heart of the city. On both sides are the vast casino-hotel complexes which are stacked and racked, all packed in close to each other, meaning you[…]

‘Ooh, look. Is that The Strip?’ Rachel was leaning over from her aisle seat next to me to catch sight of the neon track that glowed brightly in the night sky outside. ‘That’s the Ferris wheel, isn’t it? Ooh, we’re staying there. Not literally in the wheel, in the Linq.’[…]

Two hours into the flight and I’m already one champagne, two Buck’s Fizz, half a Kir Royal and 2mg of Valium down. Not that this is a usual thing. Hell, no. It’s just this is what it takes to keep me calm when I’m locked in a sealed container at[…]

Chaim Soutine is not a name that many will be familiar with; he certainly isn’t as well-known as his mate, Amedeo Modigliani. And this exhibition of portraits may not be as grand as the show that’ll open on his friend at the Tate Modern at the end of the month,[…]

There is something immediately effortlessly nostalgic about Polaroids, and this collection of personal and unseen photos from Oscar-nominated director, Wim Wenders, makes for a particularly wistful exhibition that evokes all the feels for Americana and that great road trip through the instantly recognisable – and filmic – American landscapes and[…]

Oh, Poison is a heartbreaker, that’s for sure. The trauma of grief, and the perils and risk that comes from trying to move on, laid bare. This powerful two-hander from Lot Vekemans has already been a big hit overseas in both New York and Europe (this run at the Orange[…]

Age of Terror: Art since 9/11 is not only the UK’s first major exhibition to consider artists’ responses to war and conflict since 9/11, it is the museum’s largest contemporary visual art show to date and, frankly, it is by far the most challenging, exciting and globally diverse contemporary art[…]

Oh, this is a shame. Not only is the title of this show misleading – this is not a show on Impressionists but one that includes a couple of them – but the quality of the exhibition overall is a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong, there are some big[…]

Prior to last night, it had been almost two years since I had last seen a play on the Main Stage at Hampstead Theatre and, frankly, after last night, it’ll be at least another two years before I go back. It’s not that The Slaves of Solitude was awful, not[…]

So, I feel like a bit ‘cup half-empty’ about this review and I don’t mean to be for Cezanne Portraits really is worthy of its ‘once in a lifetime’ description – this is the first time since his death that over fifty portraits painted by the great man have been[…]

Well, I’m not gonna lie – it’s a PACKED month for new art shows in the capital. In fact, all bar one of the shows listed below is a new opening. Which means for those art lovers out there, well, you better get your comfortable trainers on as there is[…]

Can you believe it? The list of my ‘shows to see’ is so packed with fantastic openings that there is no space for the two biggest shows out there – Follies and Network, both at the National Theatre. I’m figuring Follies is pretty much on your radar already as I’ve[…]

Colour is such an important element in painting that the subject matter of this new exhibition at the National Gallery couldn’t help but intrigue. Monochrome. An examination of what happens when artists cast aside the colour spectrum and focus on the visual power of black, white, and the shades in[…]

Alan Ayckbourn is considered a great for a reason and How the Other Half Loves, one of his many big hits, showcases his masterful comic touch and his technical ingenuity in what remains a pretty insightful play about marriage and adultery, and class and social hierarchy. Fiona Foster (Caroline Langrishe)[…]

The Tate Modern has taken a very different spin on commemorating the centenary of the Russian October Revolution of 1917 with this survey of the works of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, who are among the most celebrated artists of their generation, and famed for their installations that examine the betrayal[…]

What a relief to find a show that’s smart and funny – laugh out loud funny, by the way – yet relevant insightful, and with complex, nuanced characters. And only an hour long! So, take a bow The End of Hope. You are a slice of perfection; magnificent from start[…]

There are many good elements to Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle – sparky performances, smart direction and a seductive production design – but at the heart of this play is a horribly reductive depiction of a woman that is hard to look past. The set-up is simple, if more than a[…]

Right… What the hell was going on here then, eh? When this new play from Rory Mullarkey was announced by the NT, it was greeted with indifference, little more than a shrug. But come the interval on Press Night, the reaction was one of utter bemusement across the Olivier auditorium.[…]

Oh my. Every Brilliant Thing is wonderful. It has the biggest heart and the biggest laughs. It is affecting and funny; it is heartfelt and touching. I cannot imagine that you will ever see a more life-affirming show about depression. The show is centred around an unnamed narrator, played by[…]

Fifth show at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery – and it’s the fifth show in a row for White male artists. The exhibitions are largely drawn from Damien’s personal art collection – the Murderme collection – so make what you will of that lack of diversity. However, that aside, this[…]

There are two things you want from a comedy-thriller – a lot of laughs and a lot of surprises – and this excellent production of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap delivers both in abundance. Remarkably, this is my first encounter with this famous play which still holds the Broadway record for the[…]

The RA’s decision to create a show on the often-overlooked friendship of these two twentieth century greats, examining their common interests and shared outlook, has proved to be a good one for this is a cracking show that’s unexpected and challenging but also heartwarming too for it sheds light on[…]

I was really looking forward to this, the Royal Court debut of Chilean playwright, Guillermo Calderón, but something seems to have been maybe lost in translation as I found it very hard to grasp the emotional tone of this short play centred around two young women, seemingly inexperienced in violent[…]

I loved The Fall; I absolutely loved it. It’s a play for our times and it is right up my street. Yes, this is a political play but it brims not just with passion and frustration, but with rhythm and authenticity. And at its heart it considers the eternal challenge[…]

Much like my October article for theatre, my top ten is a top eleven just to squeeze as much as I can in! And much like that list, there’s as many new shows left off as there are included. Last month saw a thought-provoking survey of Rachel Whiteread’s work open[…]

Autumn is always a packed season for London theatres and that’s no exception here as it was a real battle to wheedle my list down to my top ten. In fact, I couldn’t. There are eleven on this list. And, even then, some had to miss out. Three new shows open[…]

I don’t doubt that you will read far more enthusiastic reviews of the vast Jasper Johns survey than this one. And I do not doubt the immense effort that has been made by the curating team at the RA to pull together so many works from such an influential artist[…]

It’s quite something for a show to live up to expectations, especially when it’s a show that has been as anticipated as much as this Basquiat retrospective has, but Boom for Real is everything I had hoped it would be – vital, exciting, relevant, and packed with original artworks. The[…]

Natalie Abrahami and Juliet Stevenson clearly work well together. I still think about their Happy Days, which I saw also in this theatre back in 2014. And now with Wings, they have brought to life Arthur Kopit’s affecting examination of the trauma of strokes and the challenge of recovery in[…]

A smart piece of programming, this one, for From the Vapor of Gasoline runs very much in line with the big shows on post-war American art that are front and centre in town at the moment. Much like Soul of a Nation and Basquiat, this show focuses on the other[…]

Now, when I tell you that one of the best shows in town right now is on the Arab Israeli “peace process”, I appreciate you may not exactly be willing to take me at my word. After all, this isn’t exactly subject matter that’ll have you skipping with joy to[…]

So good is this revival of David Storey’s The March on Russia, and so well-observed is David’s depiction of a couple celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary, that even though this play is almost thirty years old, I felt, for extended moments, I could have been watching scenes from the present[…]

There’s no doubting this is a mightily impressive exhibition, surely the most comprehensive survey to date of the work of sculptor, Rachel Whiteread. But that’s not to say this is the most exciting of shows. I say that not because I didn’t enjoy it – I did, very much so.[…]

Many of you have read and shared my recent article on the poor rate of return for female playwrights on some of London theatre’s biggest stages, and I thank you for that. I smile to myself a bit as I write that as it was an odd journey – I[…]

I had expected to laugh at Royal Vauxhall. I knew it would be funny. And it was. How could it not be? After all, this is a musical based on a night so legendary it has passed into myth: the night when Kenny Everett and Freddie Mercury took a well-disguised[…]

At the heart of this show is an interesting and relevant concept. Mick (Patrick Driver) and Sylv (Charlie Hardwick) are an odd couple. They live in a small place up in Northumberland and their home is a form of refuge, a safe place, for the lost, angry local kids who[…]

So, here we again. It’s my second (third?) annual review of the lot of female playwrights at the leading London theatres. But it’s September, I hear you cry! Fair point, readers, fair point. But the theatres have now announced their full roster of shows for 2017 so we have all[…]

September upon us so that means there’s a lot of change in galleries as new shows start to open. With that in mind, the vast Alberto Giacometti retrospective at Tate Modern closes September 10th in advance of the Modigliani show that opens in November in its place. It’s highly unlikely[…]

September is back-to-school month and so theatres are full of news shows opening, and there are some crackers all over town. HOWEVER. And it pains me to say this, there isn’t a single play written by a female playwright in my list of shows to see. In truth, there is[…]

It’s understandable why anyone would be pretty jaded and cynical about yet another Matisse show. After all, London has not been lacking in them over the years. However, all that is blown away as soon as you step inside this small show up in the Sackler Wing at the RA[…]

There is a real beauty in Road, a witty but heartfelt and powerfully political play from Jim Cartwright that lays out the desperate hopes and crushed disappointment of working-class lives in the North of England, whose communities had been robbed of purpose and potential by the Thatcher government and its[…]

Welcome to the height of the British summer! Hopefully there is the opportunity for some leisure time for you this month and, if so, you just may be looking for an art show to wander into in the capital this month. And there’s certainly some great ones to pick from.[…]

Would you believe it? Another month and The Ferryman and Hamlet don’t make the cut again! I know, cruel, right? (Though, interestingly, there was a thought-provoking article this past month on concerns over the Irish stereotypes Jez Butterworth harnesses in his much-feted play). I would still recommend both of them[…]

I loved Disco Pigs. This seminal Enda Walsh play first opened twenty years ago, and it has lost little of its unnerving and unsettling potency. It is a form of rites-of passage play centred around two friends Pig (Colin Campbell) and Runt (Evanna Lynch), who have been inseparable since they[…]

What did it mean to be a Black artist in the USA during the Civil Rights movement and at the birth of Black Power? What was art’s purpose and who was its audience? These are the critical questions at the heart of this new show, Soul of a Nation: Art[…]

Oh, this is a shame. This play is a disappointment, unfortunately. Not only is it an average production, at best, but it is problematic too. In fact, the fact that it is average is inextricably linked to the fact that it is problematic. The subject matter itself was a good[…]

So, it’s recently been announced that the Young Vic’s Artistic Director, David Lan, is stepping down. He has been a trailblazer in platforming diverse voices in theatre, and Taha is another example of this as this co-production with Shubbak Festival is a lyrical story of the life of Palestinian poet,[…]

Once upon a time, The Sun was a failing newspaper. A bit of a joke amongst the IPC who owned it as well as the top-performing, The Mirror. The Sun was a dud. A paper no one read and no one want to be Editor of. Sadly, those days didn’t[…]

Hello everyone Welcome to my list of my top picks for art shows to see in the capital this month. It can get pretty hot out there so you may welcome the opportunity to dive into the cool of an art gallery (or use one as a refuge to get[…]

Hello everyone, Argh! This list has been a nightmare to compile! There are so many great shows opening that I’ve been forced to drop some of the best shows in town from my top tips, simply because I’ve listed them many times before and so I’m hoping they will already[…]

So, this is interesting… I didn’t hate Common. In fact, until the interval I was really enjoying it. Anne-Marie Duff was terrific, the writing was bitingly funny, and there was a curious darkness to the piece – something a little off-kilter. But then it took a sudden turn leftfield. More[…]

Oh, I have a lot of love for Rotterdam. A lot of love, indeed. This is such a heartfelt, tender but witty, even electric, show on love, transgenderism, and the importance of knowing who you are. And I know I’m not the only one with love for this show as[…]

Well, this is a thrilling and exciting show, for sure. And an ambitious one, too. For Dreamers Awake is a major exhibition that sets out to examine and explore the enduring influence of Surrealism through the work of more than fifty women artists. In total, there are over 180 works[…]

It’s not often that I come away from a show by a woman artist concerned about its representation of women, but that’s how I felt after seeing Lisa Yuskavage’s display of works at David Zwirner in Mayfair. The promotional material tells me that Lisa, an American artist, has been widely[…]

I had been looking forward to this play, which promised to challenge gender roles, and our understanding of masculinity and femininity, through a subversive comedy. However, this good idea is hamstrung in a play which is way too heavy on the tell rather than show, and where shrieking too often[…]

The Royal Court rarely gives much away on the subject and nature of their shows in advance of their opening. Obscure, abbreviated paragraphs on the website and that is largely it. So perhaps, in spite of the rather specific title of the play, it didn’t really hit me what this[…]

Chances are you’ve not heard of Fahrelnissa Zeid (b. 1901, Istanbul, d. 1991, Amman), despite the fact that she was a larger-than-life character and a pioneer for Turkish artists, as well as a trailblazer for female artists generally. And as I walked the galleries in this new display of works[…]

Much like the David Hockney show from earlier this year at Tate Britain, I feel as if a review of the Grayson Perry exhibition that has just opened at the Serpentine Gallery is somewhat superfluous. After all, such is the popularity of the man that it’s not as if any[…]

It is, in truth, largely impossible to judge this annual institution as you would any other exhibition – there is always the familiar chaos of the hanging, there’s such a wide variety in theme and style that any overarching assessment is tricky, and the fluctuations in quality that can come[…]

Currently, the big draw at Hauser & Wirth is the collection of Philip Guston’s Nixon Drawings in the North Gallery. But don’t overlook this joint show in the South Gallery of American artists, Ida Applebroog and Lee Lozano, as it’s another welcome exhibition that seeks to re-examine often overlooked female[…]

White Cube Mason’s Yard is currently hosting a gloriously colourful, uplifting, and deceptively insightful exhibition of work from Wayne Thiebaud, one of America’s foremost twentieth century painters. Wayne’s career spans seventy years (He’s in his nineties and still going strong!) and this is a show that covers most of those[…]

The Great Wave, 1831, is not just Hokusai’s masterpiece, but one of the most iconic images in art. And standing in front of it here, in this new exhibition at the British Museum that focuses on this great Japanese artist’s later works, you are struck by how small the original[…]

So, as the exhibitions and galleries gear up for the busy Summer season, so we get a flood of new shows to appreciate and enjoy! Big name blockbusters, such as Giacometti at the Tate and Michelangelo at the National Gallery, are joined by the institution that is the Summer Exhibition[…]

So, there’s a lot of shows out there I’m excited about. Mostly because not only have we some great plays on at familiar haunts, but we’ve three big West End transfers of productions that definitely deserve a wider audience – Andrew Scott in Hamlet is a marvel, The Ferryman is[…]

About thirty seconds in to An Octoroon, I knew I was at the start of witnessing something very special; by the end, I had been completely blown away by the bite and verve of this electric production that puts race, and specifically its impact on representation in theatre, squarely in[…]

If you’re a Giacometti fan, there’s certainly plenty to tempt you in the London art galleries this Summer, for complementing the vast retrospective of the great painter-sculptor at the Tate Modern is this new show at Gagosian Gallery on Giacometti sculptures and their photographs by Peter Lindbergh. In 2016, Peter[…]

Painfully thin and elongated figures created in clay and plaster, and cast in bronze. Bolt upright or suspended in simple motion – a stride, perhaps, or finger pointing towards something, somewhere in the distance. Solitary figures, even when collected together in a group. Anguished studies of isolation and alienation. And[…]

There were four distinct stages to my visit to Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, the exhibition of new works from Damien Hirst that has recently opened in Venice: Jesus Christ, that’s big This must have cost a fortune Eh? For fuck’s sake… Given that this show marks the[…]

Nobody can tell a story like the Irish. The art of storytelling is in their blood. It is part of the very fabric of their culture. And all that heritage, all that illustrious history of passing down tales through the generations, of stories woven together from fact and fiction, is[…]

Martin Crimp’s The Treatment is quite something. For great swathes of its 2h15min running time you’re not entirely sure quite what is unfolding in front of you – facts and truth are intriguingly elusive, always slipping from your grasp – but then all the strands come together in a stunning[…]

Now, in compiling this list of those art shows in London that I’d recommend seeing this month, I had the complete opposite of the challenge I had in my list of stage shows. There, I had too many to choose from; here, well, it’s slim pickings this month, if I’m[…]

I hope you’re enjoying the May Bank Holiday. With any luck, you’ll find some time over the coming weeks to squeeze in a bit of theatre. And, this month, there is a LOT to see in town. Good for you, not so good for me, as it’s been a battle[…]

Bulls and bullfighting are everywhere in Picasso’s work, and this fascination spanned the length of his career, from early portraits of matadors to his later work where the impact of age and sexual frustrations manifested themselves in endless drawings of women being ravished by minotaurs. Picasso loved bulls. They represent[…]

Fluorescent uteruses with their fallopian tubes twisted and contorted to give the viewer the middle finger, Femen-inspired paintings of nuns stripped to the waist with ‘In Gays We Trust’ emblazoned across their breasts, ballerina pumps with ‘No God in my Vagina’ scrawled into the insole… I mean, how could I[…]

The Saatchi Gallery Exhibitions team is not having a great period right now for following on from its Painters’ Painters show, which managed to include not a single female artist, we now have the lightweight From Selfie to Self-Expression, which seems to offer up no meaningful insight or platform no[…]

So, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery has opened its fourth show – and it’s a fourth show in a row for white male artists for, following John Hoyland, Jeff Koons and Gavin Turk, we now have Ashley Bickerton. Clearly, diversity isn’t something Hirst looks for in his own art collection[…]

This long weekend seems a perfect time to reconnect yourself with the life, death and (possible) resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And I don’t think anything quite screams the Easter message like Lucy McCormick and her two backing dancers (complete with cherubic wings) re-enacting Doubting Thomas’ debate with the Risen[…]

Right, first out the gate – if rape and/or sexual violence is a trigger for you, I’d think very carefully about going to see Consent. This play follows a woman, (Heather Craney) who was raped and is seeking justice through the Courts, but the trauma in watching the injustice meted[…]

The intentions of this new exhibition, Queer British Art 1861-1967, at Tate Britain are great: mark the fiftieth anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality with a show that is dedicated to queer British art, material that relates to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ+) identities. A great[…]

Now, I’m a pretty cynical thing, me, but such is the irresistible charm of this delightful and heart-warming comedy that I fell completely under its spell. Love games, wilful deception and mistaken identity… It’s all bundled up in this perfectly crafted production on the hopes and travails of failing in[…]

It’s easy to be fatigued when it comes to Shakespeare, Hamlet in particular. I mean, just how many times can we expect creatives to find something new in text that has been turned over and analysed a thousand times? Certainly, recent Hamlets haven’t given us hope with versions at the[…]

It is sad that Howard Hodgkin died only weeks before this new show – the first to focus on his portraits – opened at the National Portrait Gallery. Not that many associate Howard with portraiture; his works seem too abstract for an easy link to be made. Nevertheless, portraiture was[…]

Right everyone, I’m quite proud of this one as I’ve we’ve got a good diversity in playwrights, and variety in styles too, with everything from comedy (light and dark), to the most gut-wrenching of dramas. And there’s a sprinkling of Shakespeare and subversive cabaret too so BRING APRIL ON, I[…]

In March 2017, Virago Books started a social media initiative called #BooksForChange Throughout the month, readers were invited to share books by women writers that they loved, that were special, or that they would recommend, using the hashtag. March was chosen as it coincided with International Women’s Day (March 8th).[…]

Do you know what, I’ve had a nightmare with this list. Much like last month I have to point out that the big guns still haven’t made it through to my Top Ten – there’s still no Hockney, no space for the terrific Wolfgang Tillmans (even if the show layout[…]

Comedies have it tough, don’t they? It’s damn hard to make audiences laugh. I mean, occasionally the wit might be enough to get a smile on some faces, but to actually make an audience laugh for an extended period of time is hard work. So, with this in mind, Director[…]

Well, The Kid Stays in the Picture really is one exhilarating, wild nostalgia ride through Hollywood’s heydays! Based on the life of Robert Evans, a film producer behind some of the biggest films of the 1970s, we hurtle through scenes upon scenes with some of the biggest names that ever[…]

Well, this new show on Vanessa Bell at Dulwich Picture Gallery is absolutely wondrous. This is the first major retrospective of Vanessa’s work – finally bringing her out of the shadows of her sister – and not only is this an important step in how we treat female creatives, but[…]

Simply, I was utterly blown away by this collection of new paintings and sculpture from Maggi Hambling, currently on display at Marlborough Fine Art. Such urgent, critical themes captured in such devastating and extraordinary works. Ice caps melting, Aleppo collapsing, and refugees fleeing in boats on dangerous seas… And all[…]

An opportunity to see some works from the great Michelangelo should never be shrugged off and, given how rare it is for museums to loan their works from this great Renaissance artist, credit must be given to the National Gallery for collating so many of his drawings, and even a[…]

So, who is afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or, to rephrase the question as it is intended – as Edward Albee confessed was his angle in a Paris Review interview – who’s afraid of living without false illusion? Who is afraid of the cold, hard truth? And if the answer is[…]

As many of you know, my book Darkness is a dystopian piece of fiction that follows a female terrorist group in the UK who are fighting for the destruction of the patriarchal state. I was at a book club recently, to discuss the book and its themes, when one woman[…]

What is, ‘a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun)’? Well, in addition to being the dictionary definition for love, it is also the not-entirely-review-friendly title for debbie tucker green’s new production at the Royal Court. So, this is a play about love, right? Well, kind of. More like the[…]

As you enter this exhibition – the first to pair works from French surrealist Claude Cahun with those by British contemporary artist, Gillian Wearing – you are welcomed by a blown-up black and white image of Cahun, perched on a stool. Her short hair is slicked into two kiss-curls on[…]

The Spring show at the Serpentine Gallery comes from John Latham, a leading British conceptual artist who died in 2006. And, I tell you now, it’s a baffling one but also equally fascinating. The small exhibition looks to encompass all strands of Latham’s work, including sculpture, installation, painting, film, land[…]

It’s as if my own personal art fairy has waved her magic wand and created a show I’d been wanting for a while. Building on the current interest in re-examining feminist art, and art from female artists in the latter half of the twentieth century, Sotheby’s has brought together a[…]

Spanning work made from the 1950s to the end of the artist’s life, Maria Lassnig. A Painting Survey, 1950 – 2007, traces Maria’s evolution from early experiments with abstraction to a richly inventive figuration and the refinement of her glorious ‘body awareness’ paintings, in which she captured physical sensation as[…]

Argh, I was really rooting for this show; I really was. Wolfgang Tillmans is a cracking artist, one of the most exciting working today but this show… it just doesn’t quite come together, for me. The way it is laid out, I feel, draws a lot of the verve and[…]

OK, so a pretty damn exciting list of art shows, if I do say so myself. HOWEVER. I am very aware there are some surprising omissions. Yup, there’s no Hockney. There’s no space for Wolfgang Tillmans’ new show at Tate Modern either. And the RA show I went for was[…]

Hello everyone, So, here it is, my list of those ten shows I’d recommend for March. Only this might be a bit controversial as, well, not only have I stretched the list to eleven this month – I couldn’t bear to drop any from the list – but even so,[…]

The promo for America after the Fall: Painting in the 1930s says that the art of this period, “tells the story of a nation in flux.” Surely an understatement as the 1930s was a period of immense turmoil in the US, as well as abroad. The 1929 Wall Street Crash[…]

It troubles me that the hurt and the angst that the young women in Low Level Panic battle are still issues for young women today, thirty years after this play was written. When this play first debuted at the Royal Court in 1988, its observations of misogyny and her portrayal[…]

“A prostitute is someone you pay to leave.” I was totally knocked out by See Me Now, a powerful and brilliantly executed piece of theatre on the rewards and challenges of sex work, created and performed by sex workers. Men, women and transgender. Straight and gay. Dominatrixes and escorts. British-born[…]

Hmmm, I’m writing this a few days after I visited this new show at the RA and, yet, I’m still not 100% sure what my opinion on it is. Perhaps my hopes were too high; perhaps that is why I remain uncertain. For sure, a show that looks to platform[…]

You’d be hard pushed to keep me away from either a Francis Bacon or Lucian Freud exhibition – I’m too drawn to their darkness and obsession with the excavation of the human condition to say No – so, of course, I was always going to be interested in this small,[…]

It’s a small exhibition of works from the young South African artist, Lady Skollie, which marks her UK debut, but, nevertheless, it’s an impressive collection, brimming with a potent raw sexuality and gender politics, that mark this artist out as one to watch. Lady Skollie was born in Cape Town[…]

I suppose I should feel a bit sorry for David Hockney. After all, it’s not his fault that he has been vaulted to national treasure status when, on the basis of his output, it would be hard to consider him a great artist. Perhaps therefore it is to be expected[…]

February next week (I know, frightening, huh?) so it’s that time again. Here are my top ten art shows to catch in London this month. There’s some big shows opening in the major galleries, which will no doubt be very popular, but – as always – I like to draw[…]

Hello everyone, It’s cold out there, I know, but below are some terrific shows that are well worth leaving the house for. I’ve comedies for you, dystopian nightmares, ballet, murder-mysteries by candlelight, dramas on big relevant themes in the world today, Shakespeare, and even Andrew Scott! Come on, you cannot[…]

It is such a thrill when a new opera gets everything right. And Written on Skin from Martin Crimp and George Benjamin, is brooding, powerful and terrific. I missed its debut back in 2013 when it premiered at the Royal Opera House so how lucky for me that this, its[…]

Who’d have thought a satire on the appeal of Far-Right ideology would not only work but be so funny? Not only is Winter Solstice at Orange Tree Theatre genuinely laugh-out-loud hilarious but it’s so damn prescient, it chills you to the bone. In the play, Roland Schimmelpfennig takes the familiar[…]

Gagosian London has a real gem of a new show on its hands with this exhibition of works by the late Michael Andrews. This is the first substantial exhibition of Michael’s work in over fifteen years, and it focuses on the landscapes and underwater scenes that preoccupied him in the[…]

2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the agenda-setting 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. Held during dangerous times, the Exposition sparked controversy just in its planning for hosting Pavilions from both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union – Germany’s Pavilion would be crowned with[…]

It doesn’t seem to matter which style of Giselle the ENB turn their talents to, the result is always exceptional. And this production of Mary Skeaping’s classic romantic ballet is worthy of every single five-star review that has been lain at its feet. The performance I saw had Alina Cojocaru[…]

Well, I adored Wish List, I really did. What a heartfelt and moving play about a young woman battling the cruelty and injustices of modern Britain. We follow nineteen-year-old Tamsin (portrayed superbly by Erin Doherty btw), the sole carer to her younger brother Dean (the also-excellent Joseph Quinn) who juggles her[…]

I recently finished reading The Power by Naomi Alderman, a piece of speculative fiction that considers the repercussions for the balance of power between the sexes in a world where women and girls uncover a latent ability to generate an electric charge from within that’s so powerful that they could[…]

Happy new year, everybody! Now, I know it’s been an expensive couple of months, what with presents and parties etc., and January is a long month so I’ve really focused on including some amazing art shows in London that have free or minimal admission so that you can still enjoy[…]

So, tomorrow marks a new year and a new month. So, time once again for my top ten list of shows to see next month. I’ve dramas, comedies, and even some ballet for you this month so, surely, one of these could tempt you out on a cold night? Surely![…]

So, end of the year always screams ‘best of’ lists. But rather than offer up to the world yet another rather arbitrary top ten list, I thought I’d revisit an old favourite – the fate of female playwrights. Or, specifically, how female playwrights have fared at those six major London[…]

Hello everyone So, obviously, I will be continuing with my monthly ‘shows to see’ list in 2017. However, I appreciate some of you would like to know about the big headline-grabbing art exhibitions that have already been announced so I’ve compiled a list for you below. Now, my 2015 list[…]

Taking on a stage adaptation of an iconic film can be a nightmare proposition yet this hasn’t fazed Matthew Bourne with this, his take on the legendary The Red Shoes. And there is certainly much to admire in this production – a sumptuous production design, a terrific corps de ballet[…]

I wasn’t planning to write anything about Rogue One, and, in truth, this isn’t a review. There are plenty of those about. And I’m very much with those who loved it. For this is a terrific film. A powerful one. A blockbuster movie that isn’t about glory and heroes, but[…]

Ah, the obligatory end-of-year ‘best of’. Yes, it’s reductive. And, of course, very personal. And this year it has not been easy. Shows that I just ‘knew’ would be amazing didn’t turn out that way, and unexpected delights coming in from leftfield means this list isn’t, possibly, what I thought[…]

The Courtauld Gallery has curated a wonderfully intimate and intriguing display on a private passion that occupied Auguste Rodin during the last two decades of his life. From the end of the nineteenth century, Rodin became fascinated with avant-garde dance forms. He was intrigued by the flexibility of acrobats he[…]

Hair by Sam McKnight is a cool, fun fashion exhibition that demonstrates how hair is a key component in the creation of fashion looks and iconic images. And central to that world is Sam McKnight. This is a man who has collaborated on some of the most famous fashion shoots,[…]

There is so much that impresses and excites about this vast new Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) retrospective at Tate Modern that it’s hard to know where to begin. Do I start with the extraordinary breadth and range of Rauschenberg’s works that hits you as you[…]

Nice Fish is a quirky little piece, so it’s a perfect match for its star man, Mark Rylance. And that shouldn’t be much of surprise as this small story of two middle-aged men, fishing at an ice hole in some obscure part of the American lakes in Minnesota, happens to[…]

Now, right off the bat, I had concerns with this show. The promo for this new exhibition at Saatchi Gallery said that the show wanted to platform painting “in an age where painting has become one strand among many in contemporary art making”. Inferring, at least, that painting was somewhat[…]

Ah, Gavin Turk… A member of the era-defining YBAs whose work, at times, could so easily pass for rubbish that you have to check with the gallery assistants whether that crumpled beer can by your foot is part of the exhibits. And yes, it is. And now Gavin Turk has[…]

An exhibition of new paints from Ed Ruscha is currently on display at Gagosian Mayfair. Ad it’s a restrained set of works from Ruscha, which works well in the large opens spaces pf the Gagosian galleries. Most of the paintings on show examine the interplay between words and their meanings.[…]